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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-09-10 Parks & Rec Comm MinutesDraft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 10/7/2019 Minutes City Of Edina, Minnesota Edina Parks & Recreation Commission City Hall, Council Chambers Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 7 p.m. I. Call To Order Chair Good called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. II. Roll Call Answering roll call were Commissioners Willette, Nelson, Strother, Dahlien, Good, McAwley, Miller, Ites and Student Commissioners Osborne and Lelas Absent: Commissioner McCormick Staff present: Staff Liaison Perry Vetter, Recreation Supervisor Tiffany Bushland and Administrative Coordinator Janet Canton. III. Approval Of Meeting Agenda Motion made by Miller to approve the meeting agenda. Motion seconded by McAwley. Motion carried. IV. Approval Of Meeting Minutes Motion made by Strother to approve the Aug. 13, 2019 minutes. Motion seconded by Miller. Motion carried. V. Community Comment None Chair Good introduced the new Student Commissioner Zoe Lelas. Student Commissioner Lelas took a few minutes to introduce herself to the commission. VI. Reports/Recommendations A. Update on Race and Equity Initiatives Staff Liaison Vetter informed the commission that Heidi Lee, Race and Equity Coordinator, is unable to attend tonight’s meeting but will be at their October meeting. Staff Liaison Vetter gave the commission a few quick updates he had on the Race & Equity Initiatives. Commissioners asked questions. B. Policy on the Use of Pickleball Courts Recreation Supervisor Bushland presented to the commission the Open Play Policy staff has put together for the pickleball courts at Rosland Park. She gave the background on the complaints they have received during the last few years in regards to the pickleball courts and what brought Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 10/7/2019 them to have this policy. She also noted that Edina is in the forefront of having a policy. It was also indicated that all the tennis courts in Edina are also striped for pickleball. Commissioners asked questions and provided feedback. C. Edinborough Park Entrance Project - Staff Liaison Vetter informed the commission that Edinborough Park is scheduled for a major capital improvement project to renovate the south entrance to the facility. He explained the primary purposes of the improvements are to address drainage improvements that impact the facility entrance as well as the deterioration of the building materials. He also went through what specifically needs to be done on the project. Staff Liaison Vetter went through what the next steps are in the process and added the project is anticipated to occur during the summer of 2020. He gave a presentation showing different iterations of things that could be done. Staff Liaison Vetter indicated staff is looking for some feedback from the commission on this project and will take that feedback to the City Council. Commissioner Nelson indicated she would be happy to help on the steering committee. Commissioners asked questions and made suggestions as well as gave their feedback. D. Open Streets Discussion The commission discussed who was going to be able to help at the Parks & Recreation Commission booth for the Open Streets event on Sunday, Sept. 22 from 1-5 p.m. Also discussed were ideas on what to display and hand out at the event. Chair Good, Commissioners Strother, Miller and Osborne all volunteered to help at the Open Streets event. E. Parks & Recreation Commission Work Plan Chair Good informed the commission they need to get a list of ideas together for the 2020 Work Plan. He will be presenting those ideas to the City Council at the Oct. 1 work session. An update was given on the current initiatives: Initiative 1 – Chair/co-chair a cross-commission committee to review the naming of a public facility in the Grandview area after the BC and Ellen Yancey. Commissioner Dahlien informed the commission he is still waiting to hear back from the Human Rights and Relations Commission; his guess is that this initiative will continue into 2020. Initiative 2 – Serve on a cross-commission committee in partnership with communities of color to identify barriers for participation in programming. Commissioner Strother informed the commission that Commissioner Osborne and herself met with a couple of commissioners from Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 10/7/2019 the Human Rights and Relations committee and came up with a proposal which is now in the hands of the Human Rights and Relations Commission to decide whether or not it’s the direction they want to go. Initiative 3 – Chair-co-chair a cross-commission committee to develop a draft plan on Edina Grand Rounds, including wayfinding. Commissioner Nelson informed the commission she thinks they are at a place where they are almost ready to hand it over. She thinks it’s important for the Transportation Committee to bring it to the Parks & Recreation Commission on what it is we are planning on doing. Their first idea was how they can look at ways to improve the communication in the website around what the parks actually offer. They have looked at updating the maps to include all of the bike trails and walking trails. She thinks the biggest opportunity before they finalize it is they should share it amongst the other commissions to listen to what they have proposed. It was noted Andrew Scipioni, staff liaison to the Transportation Commission, will give an update at a Parks & Recreation Commission meeting. This initiative should be finished this year. Initiative 4 – Complete a study and report for fields, courts and rinks capacity and utilization from the data provided by staff. Chair Good informed the commission they have not moved forward since last month. They have all of the data collected they just need to get the committee to take a look at it and see if they can turn this into some kind of insight that they can then make a recommendation or statement on going forward. This initiative should be finished this year. Initiative 5 – Investigate possible alternative funding options to support future growth and development of Edina’s parks, programs and green spaces. Commissioner Miller informed the commission with the internal funding opportunity they are looking at can they leverage the assets that they currently have to generate more revenue. The committee met with an outside group that does this and then met with City Manager Scott Neal to see what he thought of the idea. City Manager Neal informed the committee he thought it was a great idea to move along and gave the committee some direction. The committee took that information to the outside group and they should be hearing from the outside group in the next couple of days with what they think they can do for us. Commissioner Miller feels for the internal part of this initiative it could be done this year; however, the external/charitable funding part will go into next year. Initiative 6 – Review and comment on the Race and Equity policy statement developed by city staff. Commissioner Strother informed the commission that once staff has completed the policy there should be enough time to review and comment on it before the end of the year. She is hopeful this initiative will be completed this year. Initiative 7 – Serve on a cross-commission committee to complete requirements for Edina to receive the AARP City Designation. Commissioner Nelson informed the commission the committees are Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 10/7/2019 meeting tomorrow so hopefully she will have information to share at next month’s meeting. She added because the Parks & Recreation Commission committee is not the lead on this initiative she does not know the timing of it. The commission had a discussion on possible work plan ideas for 2020 and came up with the following: Prioritize and take action on the following: o Upgrading park playground equipment o Upgrading park warming house assets o Core park maintenance items o Park to park connectivity opportunities Review our commitment to / execution of our goal of 15% of Edina land dedicated to parks and green spaces Proactively assess conditions, quality and sustainability of parks, waterways and green space Add trails (Comp Plan goal of 15-20 miles of new trails over 10 years) Build community by proactively connect with neighborhood groups, developing nodes and community athletic groups Support Enterprise asset managers with strategic and operational plans Revisit the Braemar Master Plan Formalize the dog parks in terms of some of the infrastructure; look at a formal dog park at Weber Woods If the council puts the Grandview area as a work plan item be sure the council gives firm operating guidelines around what it is they are looking for from the commission. Fred Richards Plan Investigate a 2020 referendum; wasn’t sure if that would be appropriate Discuss natural buffer zones throughout the city; where in Edina those changes would be taking place. Just some things surrounding the natural buffer and the addition of natural grasses and things like that to green space Develop and recommend an innovative approach to expand funding, operating and improve our park system Chair Good asked Staff Liaison Vetter to go through the list and do a quick cut at polishing and prioritizing the top four or five items and some parking lot items. He asked him to then email it to the commission to see if anything was missed or if there are any objections and then Chair Good will present it to the City Council at the Oct. 1 council work session. VII. Chair and Member Comments • Chair Good informed the commission that the “Fall into the Arts Festival” at Centennial Lakes was a good event; there were over 240 contributors. • Chair Good informed the commission he recently went by Arden Park and noticed some kids on the playground equipment which right now they probably should not be playing on. He suggested putting in stronger fences and/or additional signage until the playground is ready and safe for use. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 10/7/2019 • Chair Good informed the commission he was at Highlands Park on Sunday watching boy’s flag football and it looked like a great use of a public facility. • Chair Good informed the commission that with all of the rain and flooding staff Liaison Vetter and he discussed they need to think of a way to direct or warn people about park path closures; especially at Bredesen Park where there tends to be more flooding. • Chair Good informed the commission that he went on the August Walk with the Mayor at Centennial Lakes Park. The park was in great shape and they received a number of very positive comments. • Commissioner McAwley informed the commission a great job was done at Highlands Park clearing out the buckthorn around the park; you can actually see into the park right now and it looks a lot better. • Commissioner Nelson informed the commission that at Arden Park the re- meandering of the creek is awesome. Not just the clarity of it but it’s very pretty and moves at a pretty rapid pace. VIII. Staff Comments Staff Liaison Vetter gave the following updates: • There is no news on the vandalism reports at Utley Park; the partitions for the restrooms are still on order. • The Edina Crime Prevention Fund has been offering rewards for the graffiti that has been happening; Staff Liaison Vetter will be attending a meeting next week on the protocol of how to handle graffiti in the future. • Arden Park is still under construction; however, the playground is in. They are planning to do a soft opening for the hockey season for the history of the park; the first year of hockey at Arden Park was in 1949. • The container and site work is primarily done at Fred Richards Park on the eastern edge where the playground will be going. They are going to have some kind of opening celebration there this fall. • Braemar Arena finished up the DaBeauty league for the summer; approximately 16,000 people attended those games. • The east rink at Braemar Arena has been shut down for annual maintenance. • Braemar Golf Course is having a great season even with the challenging weather. There were approximately 18,500 18-hole rounds on the championship course, 13,000 9-hole rounds of golf on the championship course, 18,800 rounds on the Academy Nine and there were 42,000 golf range buckets sold. • The Aquatic Center had a successful year despite the weather struggles; there were 39,000 daily admissions and 45,000 member check-ins – a 23% increase in member visits. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 10/7/2019 • The lawn bowling area at Centennial Lakes is being converted into Scottish putting and it is starting to take shape. • There is now a revised version of the park finder on the city’s website; this version should be easier to use. • People can now sign up to receive text notifications in addition to emails; one of the primary purposes is for the weather related closure of fields for games, etc. • The September Walk with the Mayor at Rosland Park has been cancelled. The next Walk with the Mayor will be held on Oct. 19 at Arden Park. • As a reminder, the October Parks & Recreation Commission meeting is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 7. IX. Adjournment Motion made by McAwley to adjourn the Sept. 10, 2019 meeting at 8:43 p.m. Motion seconded by Miller. Motion carried.